Thursday, October 11, 2012

Honesty as fascism

Daniel Henninger at WSJ apparently suffering from some sort of dyslexia, needs some help in making his point. So let's edit his piece a bit for clarity.

The Obama Romney's campaign’s resurrection of “liar” "lying" as a political tool is odious because it has such a repellent pedigree. It dates to the sleazy world of fascist and totalitarian propaganda in the 1930s. It was part of the milieu of stooges, show trials and dupes. These were people willing to say anything to defeat their opposition. Denouncing people as liars for spewing lies was at the center of it. The idea was never to elevate political debate but to debauch it.

The purpose of calling someone a liar flat out lying about someone then was not merely to refute their ideas or arguments. It was to nullify them, to eliminate them from participation in politics.

Now, his silly post makes sense. If he was really saying the Romney campaign should be allowed to lie with impunity without ever being called on it, because demanding honesty from our leaders is fascist... well, that would be extraordinarily stupid. And I certainly wouldn't want to hurt Daniel's feelings, or make him feel nullified, by calling him a dumbass Murdoch flunky.